Truth of Origin
by John Perry
Summary: What would you do if your whole life had been a lie? what would happen if everything you held dear in lilfe was taken away from you by the one you love the most? I dont know about you but i would be pi$$ed!
1. CHapter 1

Hello Everyone out there John Perry here I would jus like to let you know that I am Re Posting this fic because me and my Friend worked on it a while back and I am in Charge of the Sequel which I have written 5 chapters of that I am going to upload after Truth of Origin runs once more( Trunks on Toast is the original creator of Truth of Origin and I can only take credit for the second third and fourth chapters the first and last chapters are written by Trunks. Its been so long sense Truth of Origin was posted that I felt I should re air it just so people are not lost when they see Life after Rebirth! So stay tuned!!! Life after rebirth is coming NEXT!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the Sandman. I don't currently own a hotdog either, but I guess that's just how life goes.  
  
A/N: this is. . . REALLY random. And strange. And there's TONS of holes in it (partly cause I haven't actually seen the whole series yet, but mostly it's just because I suck at detail) so, uhm, sorry about that. yes, I think that's about it. (try to) enjoy!  
  
Oh yea, this takes place some time after the Buu saga, and it's rated PG13 for a few choice words from our favorite saiyan prince  
  
Note: ~ thought ~  
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Death:  
  
Mostly they aren't too keen to see me.  
  
They fear the sunless lands.  
  
But they enter your realm each night without fear  
Dream:  
  
And I am far more terrible than you, my sister.  
  
- Neil Gaiman, Preludes and Nocturnes (Book 1 of The Sandman series)  
  
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"Vegeta."  
  
~ Nnh, shut up. . . ~  
  
"Vegeta."  
  
~ Damnit woman, I'm trying to sleep! ~  
  
"Veggykins."  
  
His eyes snapped open in annoyance, and he sat upright to glare at his blue- haired mate.  
  
"I told you not to call me that idiotic. . . "  
  
He trailed off upon recognizing his surroundings- Bulma's lab. More specifically, a glass containment chamber in Bulma's lab. That was odd. . . he had gone to sleep in their bedroom. He was sure of it. And even if his training had exhausted him enough to make him become delusional and accidentally fall asleep somewhere else completely, he was be fairly certain it wouldn't be in a glass containment chamber in Bulma's lab. So what the hell was he doing here then?  
  
"What the hell am I doing in here?!"  
  
"Honestly Vegeta, there's no need to yell. You're going to wake up Trunks."  
  
"I could care less if the brat gets his beauty sleep. . . " he hissed, eyes narrowing in anger as he stared out through the glass barrier. "You will let me out. Now. And then you will explain yourself before I blow this whole fucking place to hell." His voice was dangerously quiet, harsh emphasis placed on each word.  
  
The heiress of Capsule Corp. had never taken too kindly to threats. In all the years that Vegeta had known her, she never once backed down from him. She'd yell, throw things, and even make her own threats regarding the gravity machine. . . and some part of him respected her for that. At least, he figured that he did. . . in some strange, twisted way.  
  
But this time was different. The look on her face wasn't fear, of course.but it wasn't anger or annoyance either. It was pity.  
  
She pitied him.  
  
The earth woman with a power level that wouldn't even compare to a shoe on his old home planet, was standing in front of him, the prince of all saiyans, and pitying him.  
  
She caught his heated glare for just a second, and lowered her eyes to the colorful lights and buttons flashing on the control panel attached to the chamber. Sighing quietly she ran her fingers over the keypad, studying the data that came up on the small screen beside it.  
  
Vegeta should have been furious. He should have blasted through the glass prison and gone through with his threat the moment he saw the expression on Bulma's face. He had never tolerated such insolence before, and he was not about to start. But something about that pity set off warning signals in his brain. There was a particular uneasiness about the whole situation, but it wasn't just that. Something was wrong.  
  
His previous anger seeped out of him, leaving the saiyan feeling empty and vaguely afraid. At least with rage there was something to hold on to. You had an enemy, he was to be destroyed, and rage fueled your power. It was simple. . . he died, and you lived.  
  
This time there was no enemy, no battle. Only a woman he thought cared for him, and the vague fear.  
  
"I'm sorry. . . "  
  
She didn't bother to look up as she said it, her head still bent busily over the keypad. When she spoke again her eyes were still glued to her work.  
  
"You know, Vegeta, you're such a jerk. . . always making fun of how weak humans are. But you're right. We're way too weak to defend ourselves from monsters like Frieza and Cell and the androids. Yamcha and Tien are strong, but they can't even compare to Goku."  
  
"What does Kakkarot have to do with this?!" he demanded harshly, the old rivalry between them fueling itself into jealousy.  
  
How dare she change the subject and start speaking of his rival? She either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, because she paused only for a moment before continuing.  
  
"He's a hero. Even when he was just a little kid, his whole life was to help people in trouble. Something YOU would never understand. But then again, you weren't supposed to."  
  
"What are you babbling. . . "  
  
"All heroes need a villain, Vegeta," she interrupted in a low voice, her fingers ceasing their rapid movement over the glowing keys. "Not ones that crash onto their planet and try to destroy it. Those are just part of the job. They need someone who hates THEM. . . who will keep them on their toes by fighting for personal victory. And fighting is what you saiyans live for, isn't it? Goku needed a villain like that, and who else but the genius daughter of the president of Capsule Corp. to give him one?"  
  
"You don't know what you're talking about," he snapped violently, trying to cover up the terrifying realization dawning upon him by raising his voice, denying her words. She couldn't possibly be implying what he thought she was.  
  
"It sounded easy enough, but where would I start? Should it be male or female? A saiyan, or some other race? The easiest thing to do was take everything that Goku was and make the exact opposite. Mean where he was nice, perpetually pissed off where he was always cheerful, selfish where he was generous, egotistical where he was modest, royalty where he was low class, impulsive and hot-tempered where he was rational and calm. . . "  
  
The corner of her mouth twitched up in a sort of half-grin, and a dark chuckle escaped her lips.  
  
"Short where he was tall. But I decided to keep it in the same race. It would be easier for them to relate that way. They would both understand the thrill of battle, have the same bloodlust."  
  
"SHUT UP!" he roared at last, slamming his fist into the wall. Somewhere at the back of his mind the fact that the chamber was strong enough to contain him made perfect sense. . . Bulma always thought these things through, after all. What kind of genius would she be if she didn't? But the fact that there wasn't even a dent on the smooth surface just served to enrage him further.  
  
"IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, GOD HELP ME I WILL BURN THIS FUCKING PLACE TO THE GROUND, WITH YOU IN THE BRAT IN IT!"  
  
As always she held her ground, but this time it was because she knew he couldn't do a thing in there. He was helpless, because she had planned it that way.  
  
"I made up your family, your past. . . everything. It's all about the little things, like that furry little animal one of the servant boys kept with him- what was its name, Kuri?- that you made him give to you after threatening to have his head cut off with a rusty blade. Remember that? And the time when you got angry with your father and ripped up nearly all the documents in his office. But I only came up with a few.I didn't really know much about how you saiyans lived. Most of your memories are from the DNA I extracted. I could've never dreamed up the whole Frieza thing."  
  
"DNA. . . " he repeated tonelessly, his voice dead.  
  
By now Vegeta was too numb to argue- what she was saying was true. There was no possible way she could have known all these tiny details about his life. The only people who knew of them were on his planet when it was destroyed, and needless to day, were long dead.  
  
"One of them was Goku, of course. That took forever.you know how he is with needles. But that wasn't as bad as working with Radditz's dead body. Ugh, taking the scouter was one thing, but I actually had to touch his skin. . . "  
  
She shuddered at the memory, feeling the bile rising in her throat from just remembering the smell.  
  
"And I did some fancy science stuff and there you were!"  
  
"But Nappa. . . "  
  
"You killed him before Goku came, remember? The whole fight with the saibamen never happened."  
  
"I got into my pod and went back to my planet," he said, a hint of desperation in his rough voice. "How could I have been received by a planet where I never existed?"  
  
"You passed out and I.well, I put you in kind of a coma."  
  
"It was just a dream. . . "  
  
"A little clichéd, but yea. It was a dream. And a pretty damn good one, too!"  
  
He remained silent.  
  
"So Kakkarot and the others. . . they knew. The whole time they knew what I really was."  
  
"Of course Goku had to know. He didn't like it at first but after awhile he began thinking of you as a real person. I don't think it made any difference to him, really. And as for everyone else. . . I just told them you were working for Frieza, and they were content with that. Just another bad guy for our hero to defeat."  
  
"That's why you took me in. . . " the flame-haired saiyan realized, "To keep an eye on me. To make sure I didn't do anything I wasn't supposed to."  
  
She shrugged, the same half-smile appearing on her lips.  
  
"It didn't really work too well. I thought I knew everything about you. . . I mean, I should have. But then you took on this life of your own. Pretty impressive. And then you turned into a good guy, which was even more impressive. I didn't plan that at all. . . I figured, when you got out of hand, I would just get rid of you. Or something."  
  
A vivid memory of his standoff with Majin Buu came to him, and he could remember the unfamiliar feeling of the human emotions he had always scorned to be their biggest weakness.  
  
Love. Affection.  
  
Perhaps not the unrealistic kind portrayed in movies and TV shows, or anything that he would croon a disgustingly sappy ballad about, but it was there. Caring for people other than himself. And strangely enough, in his final moments there had been no regrets.  
  
"The brat. Is he. . . ?"  
  
Bulma blinked and looked away, looking slightly ashamed as she did so.  
  
"No. He's Yamcha's. But neither of them knew, and you were the one who was around when he was growing up. . . Two weeks after I found out I was pregnant, I had the top doctors take the fetus out, inject some saiyan genes into it, and put it back. . . in secret, of course. So there wouldn't be any doubt whose he was."  
  
She pressed a final button and the screen beeped at her. She looked at it for a second, then looked up.  
  
"Trunks really does love you. And I really did like you, you know. I mean, why shouldn't I? You were my creation, after all."  
  
"A creation. A plaything for Kakkarot." He let out a harsh laugh, sounding like a bark. "Of course. Its always been about that brain- damaged fool."  
  
Vegeta looked down at the panel where the screen was still beeping, mesmerized by the flashing green light. He then glanced around, and for the first time noticed the wispy strands of light blue smoke curling around him.  
  
And then he knew.  
  
It was over.  
  
"You don't need me anymore."  
  
The scientist nodded, swallowing hard and blinking rapidly to hold back tears. She took a deep breath, only to have her breath hitch, and let out a noise that sounded strangely like a wounded puppy. Her hand instinctively clapped over her mouth and stayed there as silent tears began rolling down her face.  
  
And despite everything she had just told him, and finding out that he was no more real than any character in those video games that his son and his best friend Goten were so fond of. . . despite all that, now it was Vegeta who felt pity.  
  
That woman had done what she thought necessary to make their Goku happy- giving him the most complex and well-crafted challenge that he could ask for. He would be happy, Bulma would be happy, all his friends would be happy, and, hell, the whole goddamn WORLD would be happy.  
  
And it wasn't as if this new "toy" would be real.  
  
So idealistic. . . it was disgusting. But all humans were idealists, up to some point. She wasn't any different.  
  
The earthling that he had presumed to care for all those years was standing in front of him, hand held firmly over her mouth, crying silently over the destruction of her own creation by her own hands.  
  
It was heartbreaking.  
  
"Woman, stop crying," he said gruffly, stepping towards the glass and placing a gloved hand on its surface. It felt surprisingly warm.  
  
"I. . . I'm sorry V-Vegeta. . . I didn't think I'd have to do this s-so soon. But there's peace now, and. . . and taking care of you costs so much. . . " Her voice was thick with tears, and muffled by her hand still covering her mouth.  
  
"And you've been one of us so long, that if you were around any longer. . . "  
  
She stopped and shook her head, but Vegeta understood. If he were to stay among them even for only a little while longer, then she would forget what he really was. He would become human (figuratively speaking) in her eyes and then. . . then she wouldn't ever be able to end it. End him. It would become murder, whereas right now it would only be shutting down a machine.  
  
If he was only an artificial life, then terminating his existence wouldn't technically be death. Like he said, he was just a dream . . . and dreams don't die. Bulma could handle erasing a dream. She couldn't handle erasing a life.  
  
Human hearts are so fragile.  
  
"And the br. . . Trunks. What are you going to tell him."  
  
She slowly lowered her hand and hastily wiped her tears away. Several deep breaths, and even her voice was almost back to normal, if not for the slight wavering.  
  
"That you went off to spar again, and some bad guys showed up. And they were too strong for even you. . . He'll remember you as what he always saw you as. Goku wasn't the only hero, you know."  
  
A faint smile ghosted over the man's lips, a mixture of amusement and pride. Strange, that that comforted him.  
  
"No. Tell him the truth. The boy deserves it."  
  
She shook her head no, but he bared his teeth and nearly growled out, "You WILL tell him. He won't be reduced to some ignorant boy."  
  
When Bulma made no reply he sighed and placed his other hand on the smooth surface, leaning forward so that his forehead was also resting against it. Fiery onyx eyes looked deep into sky blue ones.  
  
Then they slowly slid closed.  
  
She slowly walked forward until she was almost touching the chamber, leaned down, and placed a light kiss on the what should have been his forehead had the glass not been there. He smirked, as though he knew exactly what she was doing. And perhaps he did.  
  
"It won't hurt," she said timidly, her mouth so close to the glass that the words left a small circle of steam. "I promise."  
  
He snorted, still keeping his eyes closed.  
  
"Don't be stupid woman. I am still saiyan."  
  
"Something you've never stopped reminding me of," she replied, fondness and grim amusement in her voice.  
  
"Only because it was obviously too much for your tiny human brain to remember," he shot back, the same old Vegeta, even when he was dying. But there was affection hidden there, somewhere under the harsh words. Even if she had never intended it, it was there.  
  
And Bulma Briefs, mother of Trunks Briefs, daughter of the founder of dino- caps, long time companion of the legendary Son Goku, and the creator of earth's former enemy turned unwilling champion. . . Bulma briefs was content for those to be his last words uttered.  
  
She couldn't have said it better herself. 


	2. Chapter 2

disclaimer: shockingly enough, I do not own DBZ. and actually, i don't own this chapter either.  
  
a/n: i originally thought that this was a one-shot thing, but now it's gonna be a full-blown story! whoo!!! and John Perry (go read his stories!) was gracious enough to write this chapter, cause god knows i can never seem to follow through on my fics. so all the credit for chapter 2 (and hopefully there will be more chapters to come from him, cause he rules and i could never write so much so well) go to him. i just beta-read it.  
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Truth of Origin: Chapter Two  
  
It was over. Vegeta's life signs were flat lined and he was no longer breathing. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself she was doing the right thing Bulma could not stop her tears from flowing. As she looked up through the cylinder prison which had become Vegeta's Death chamber, she could not help but notice how calm and innocent he appeared and it totally destroyed her. Without a second thought Bulma bolted from her lab, sobs wrecking her body as she ran. So wrapped up in her own emotional turmoil she never even noticed the sleepy eyed lavender haired child entering the lab through its secondary entrance.  
  
The boy snuck slowly through his mothers workplace where she kept her experiments, he had awoke to his father's yelling from some where down here and almost dismissed it as normal but something in his fathers tone and a feeling in his gut told him something was very wrong. Trunks could see a glass cylinder up ahead and was instinctively drawn towards it. He could see the green mist floating within and a shadowed figure he could not quite make out inside slumped at the bottom of the chamber.  
  
"Papa?" spoke Trunks testing the already tense lab hoping for an answer though almost expecting none. When there was no reply from within the courageous nine year old made his way up to the large tank and peered within. A gargled choking gasp escaped his throat as he stumbled back in shocked horror at the sight of his father's motionless body within.  
  
"PAPA!" Were the only words that found their way from Trunks' traumatized state of mind. Frantic, the young prince scrambled up to the glass and began to pound upon the clear cylinder in an effort to get his father to look up at him but Vegeta wouldn't move. His body lay there motionless and without a doubt lifeless- Trunks could feel no Ki signature emanating from the strong proud warrior- and without warning the strong Saiyan persona that he always put up for his father cracked and he became a young boy once again. Tears welled up and poured down the young prince's face as he continued to pound effortlessly at the lifeless form of his father.  
  
"Papa Wake Up! Wake up Papa please!" Trunks' voice was terribly shaky and choked but still he pounded and still he cried, "You can't die we need you papa! Damn it papa open your eyes! LOOK AT ME!!!" Trunks voice was now at a full yell he was loosing control over his power and he was fluctuating between normal Saiyan and Super Saiyan.  
  
The tears were now burning his face and he could no longer see straight in one last attempt to awaken his father Trunks poured everything he had out of himself and exploded with his full power. The cry of anguish that erupted from his young frame could be heard throughout the complex and probably well into Satan City.  
  
Bulma certainly heard it through her tears and self anguish she heard it loud and clear. Her worst fear had just come to a reality. Trunks had found Vegeta before she could dispose of him. He should have been asleep, she had put enough sleeping drug in his dinner meal to put down two Saiyans. Frantically Bulma rushed back into her lab only to see her son pounding on the glass cylinder hysterically yelling at the lifeless form within. "I WILL NOT LOOSE YOU LIKE MIARI TRUNKS LOST HIS PAPA!"  
  
Bulma was crushed at the sight before her, what had she done? What in gods name had she done? With trunks the way he was there was no way she could go anywhere near him, his power was way out of control and if she didn't do something soon he was going to hurt himself or destroy the complex and half the city with him when he released his pent up energy.  
  
It was then that Bulma was forced to watch in horror as her nine year old son began to punch the cylinder with his bare fists, no longer was he trying to gather his father's attention, now Trunks wanted his father out of there where he could hold him. Now Trunks was hell bent on destroying something he had no chance of defeating, but he wouldn't give up. Through all his rage, all his fury and all his determination Trunks is unable to break his father's prison. When he is done his tiny fists are bruised broken and bloody. Yet Vegeta still remains trapped within the unbreakable Cylinder, motionless and lifeless.  
  
Bulma's lab is destroyed and yet she takes no notice to any of it, her main concern is that of her only son. Trunks is still standing there slumped against the glass exhausted beyond the point of movement and void of any emotion. He just leans against the glass and presses his forehead to his father's. It isn't until Bulma approaches her son that she hears him whispering a phrase over and over again. The second she hears it spoken clearly she wishes she had not.  
  
"You promised you would never leave us.you promised you would never leave us.you promised you would never leave us." Over and over again Trunks repeated this and it seemed to echo within Bulma's mind louder and louder every time her son said it. Finally it became too much for her and she rushed over to Trunks and smothered him with her love which he accepted with open arms, for how was he to know that the killer of his father was in fact his own mother?  
  
When he could cry no more young Trunks passed out in his mother's arms and then all was silent. When Bulma was certain her son was fully asleep she stood up and took him to his room where she laid him under his covers and tucked him in tightly for the second time that night. When she was finished Bulma found herself in her lab once again. Silently she walked over to her control center and began to complete Vegeta's Termination procedures. When all was said and done her greatest invention ever was forever dead until she deemed otherwise. And over and over again she found herself saying that it was for the best and that it would be better off this way. Yet why was her heart telling her otherwise?  
  
With the Termination complete Bulma powered down her lab and retreated to her lonely bedroom, to her lonely double king sized bed and the double king size hole in her heart. There would be no sleep for Bulma this night. Not tonight or any night there soon after. For whom in they're right mind can even think of sleep when they have just bathed in the blood of an Innocent? Especially when that innocent was someone you loved.  
a/n II (yep, still here!): stay tuned because there's more to come! The ending's planned out and everything *grins evilly* 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: uhm, there's one in my first chapter, i think. so you can refer to that one, if you'd like  
  
A/n: yet another lovely chapter by the lovely John. (lol, i love that word."lovely") i'll produce some chapters of my own, eventually, but right now i can't seem to write. so enjoy, and, uhm . . . have a non- spontaneous- combustive day!  
  
Note: this starts off from Bulma's p.o.v.  
  
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My little Trunks was never the same after that night. No matter what I tried to do to cheer him up nothing ever worked. When he had woken up the next morning he had come into the kitchen all smiles as if he was his normal self. When I asked if he was ok Trunks told me he was fine, He just had a bad dream last night and was glad it was over.  
  
I was in total shock. Trunks had been so distraught over Vegeta's death that when he awoke in his bed where I had put him last night he figured it was all a dream . . . oh my poor baby . . . Before I could even say a word Trunks turned and was headed for the back yard door.  
  
"I'm going to go train with Papa this morning, He promised to take me to the park and play catch with me if I started to train with him every morning." Trunks said.  
  
Bulma was left in total shock, she could hear Trunks calling for Vegeta in the back yard, she could hear the hiss of the Gravity room door being opened and Trunks' echoed calls for Vegeta go unanswered no matter how many times her son called for him. Tears were streaming down her eyes as her son came walking calmly back into the house and turned to her.  
  
"Mama, where did papa go? We were supposed to train bright and early this morning." Trunks questioned.  
  
The tears in her eyes and the silence that was her answer was all the answer Trunks needed and Bulma was forced to watch as his cheerful happy mood was shattered as the realization that last night was not a dream dawned upon him.  
  
"It wasn't a dream was it? Last night was real, my Papa died." Trunks said.  
  
The way he stated it was more of a fact then a question and Bulma could only nod and open her arms to offer her son some comfort. The concern to comfort was quickly replaced with fear as Trunks looked up at her with murder in his eyes. No longer were they her son's sweet innocent eyes staring back at her, they had a glint to them that was not human and seemed very blood thirsty. They were Vegeta's eyes. They may have been her color but everything else about her son's eyes were purely Vegeta. The scowl upon her sons face was an exact carbon copy of the older Saiyan prince and it scared her to death.  
  
"Who killed him? Why didn't he fight back? Why couldn't you heal him?" Trunks asked desperately.  
  
"I don't know Trunks he just appeared home like this, he went out after you went to bed and when." Bulma's sentence was interrupted by a force of air that sent her back into the kitchen wall. The total shock of it was enough to almost make her pass out, but her son's words that came with the force kept her wide awake.  
  
"LIAR!!!!!!" Trunks screamed in rage. "What did you do to Papa!?!"  
  
Bulma winced as she pulled herself out of her crumbling kitchen wall and tried to stand on her own two feet, she failed miserably. Collapsing to her knee's Bulma looked up at her son's fury filled face.  
  
"Trunks I'm telling the truth, He must have gotten into a fight with someone more powerful then him, I just don't know I wasn't there I was only here for the aftermath." Bulma pleaded desperately.  
  
But instead of Trunks' face softening it hardened even more as he clenched his little fists and balled them at his sides.  
  
"I don't believe you mother. I would have felt it, I ALWAYS FEEL IT!!! Papa's Ki is one of a kind. There is no other like it on this planet, just ask any of the fighters and they will tell you. I never knew the difference until now. With them their Ki was always noticeable. I don't know a word for what I am trying to say. Earth fighters' Ki is the same in every way; their power is controlled by their spirit- their life force energy. Even Gokou's power was similar to that of the earth fighters and he was Saiyan.but Papa's power was on a totally different level, his power came from something besides his spirit. I don't know where it came from but it made him extremely dangerous because you could never gauge him perfectly when you would fight him. It was like his power was half spirit and half of something unknown. That's why I would have known if he had been fighting, because no matter where Papa is when ever he raises his Ki in the slightest we feel it. It's never clouded by the other powers of earth it screams to us loud and clear."  
  
When Trunks was finished he was so worked up that he could not see through the tears welled up in his eyes, nor was he paying attention to the blurry figure moving forward to embrace him. When slender arms wrapped themselves around his small frame the weight of his sorrow was released and the strong warrior inside was shoved aside and the child within took over. Bulma could do nothing but hold her son as he cried his heart and soul out into her shoulder.  
  
"I'm sorry Trunks your father was very sick, he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want to hurt you. Your father wanted you to be strong for him Trunks, you're all that I have left now can you be strong for me? Your father was proud of you don't shame his memory by mourning over him" Bulma said with total contempt for her self.  
  
As the days went by Trunks drifted further away from the world becoming totally oblivious to everything around him, nothing anyone said or done around him could break through to him. The days turned into months and the months into years, Trunks had completely stopped all training and even quit school. His life was slowly drifting away from him and he was slowly falling down a spiral of despair that he was sure to never climb out of on his own.  
  
It had been six years since she had terminated Vegeta and her life was still empty, she had had no motivation for science in the slightest since that fateful day. Instead she had turned her life to her son, but that had been disastrous. Trunks was going nowhere fast, he had totally turned away from her in the last six years. Deep down Bulma thought that Trunks had somehow figured it out, or at least thought that she was behind the death of Vegeta but if her son thought so he never implied it.  
  
It was strange, she had terminated Vegeta because she was loosing sight of what he truly was, and he had evolved from his original programming. His AI adapted to the world around him and every day he became more and more human. To everyone else he was now just one of them, a real being and with every passing day Bulma was loosing sight of what Vegeta really was as well. She had fallen in love with her own creation and such a thing should never happen. For a human to love a machine that could love you back wasn't right. So she had to remove him from their lives and in doing so she had destroyed them instead.  
  
Trunks sat alone on the hilltop just outside his house, he sat there staring blankly into the mid morning sky watching as the clouds rolled by lost in thought. Bringing his gaze down to the object in his hand Trunks stares at the dragon radar with mixed feelings. It was the key to his happiness. It would unlock the doors to the whereabouts of seven tiny golden balls. Alone they were useless but when brought together they can summon forth a Dragon with the power to grant two wishes, not to exceed his own power. He had stolen it from his mother earlier that morning with full intent on wishing for his father to be brought back to life. However something else he had found inside his mothers lab had made him stop and think real hard about what he was about to do.  
  
Within the same safe as the dragon radar were several objects and files that were deemed by his mother as Top Secret, none of which caught his attention in the slightest. That is until he sifted past one that was labeled Project Saiyan Prince. Trunks tried to ignore it and just find the dragon radar but the file seemed to just stare at him begging to be read. When he picked it up he found it was very thick and heavy.  
  
As he opened the file he was instantly confused by the language it was written in- he didn't understand a word of it except for two words. It was a word his father had taught him. The words were "Saiyan Prince" written in the Saiyan language. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the whole file must be in Saiyan and trunks dug quickly for the scouter that he knew was in this safe as well.  
  
With the scouter in place and the file in hand Trunks turned on the device and set it for language translation. The results shall we say were more then successful, as Trunks looks back he can still clearly remember the whole beginning summary.  
  
"Today I begin the day with new hope in making our Gokou happy. I have finally figured out a way to do this through my newfound advancements in Bio Mechanics. It was pretty gross but I took blood and skin samples from the dead Saiyan Raditz along with the living samples of Gokou. I spliced their genes, broke down their DNA and combined them with the DNA of my Bio Mechanical androids; the end result was a fully functional Saiyan Prince. I have named him Vegeta, after the original Saiyan king that I had found out about in Raditz's memories. I am Such a Genius!  
  
Trunks never even finished the rest of the file, so shocked was the young prince that he never even closed the safe as he absently left the lab with file, scouter, and radar in hand. As he brought himself back from his reverie Trunks glanced at a backpack to his right. Inside were the Dragonballs; all seven of them. He truly had no memory of finding them at all- they had just been there on the hill with him when he had finally snapped out of his shocked daze. But he didn't care. He knew what he had to do, no matter what.  
  
With newfound determination Trunks found himself emptying the backpack of Dragonballs and placing them so that they were connected. "I don't care if you are bio mechanical, Papa . . . you are still my father and I am bringing you home where you belong." 


	4. Chapter 4

disclaimer: did i mention how much i hate these things?  
  
a/n: and the plot thickens! (dun dun DUN~) once again, an intriguing chapter by john. and as this twist-and-turn journey begins to draw to a close, you have to wonder: will i ever come up with my own chapter? the next one i will, promise!  
  
===================================  
  
The attack was so quick that Trunks never even had a chance to acknowledge what had happened. The violent Ki blast sent him, the files on Vegeta and the Dragon balls soaring through the sky. The files were incinerated, the Dragon balls were scattered all about and Trunks crash landed almost three hundred yards away from where the blast originated in a crumpled heap of pain.  
  
The young prince tried to get up but such a surprise attack had rendered him in too much pain. As the smoke and dust cleared he could make out a shadow appearing within the settling destruction walking towards him, slowly and yet very aggressively but Trunks was not without defense.  
  
Slowly Trunks began to levitate off the ground and stand him self up strait where he faced his opponent and assumed a fighting stance learned by his father, he crossed his arms across his chest stood as strait and proud as a Saiyan should and he put a mask of hatred over his normally kind face and stared at the shadow with total loathing. This bastard who ever it was, he was going to pay for ruining his attempted wish to bring his father back to him.  
  
Trunks' ears were still ringing from the concussion but he could still make out sounds and voices fairly well and when this mysterious creature emerged from the cover of the after blast Trunks heard the being laughing with much humor. It was then that Trunks got his first view of his attacker. It was male and human looking, he had long strait hair that was raven black and a battle suit on similar to those worn by Chinese martial arts masters. When he spoke his voice was very confident and in charge.  
  
"I can't believe what I am seeing, you are still standing after that hit- that is most impressive if I must say and yet I already know that you are so out of practice that you won't be able to withstand another one despite your pitiful attempt to intimidate me with that pose of yours." The so far nameless man says as he moves closer to Trunks. Trunks ignores his snide comments and starts to ask questions of his own.  
  
"Who are you and why have you attacked me? Clearly you seem to know me so why not return the favor?" Trunks asked. The man however just laughs at him and just shakes his head back and forth. "I don't think so Mr. Briefs. Or would you prefer Prince Trunks? Either way it does not matter, the only thing you need to know is that I am your opponent and that I am much stronger then you are so give up now and leave the Dragon balls with me and I will let you live. Refuse and you will die. It is that simple." The nameless man ultimatums.  
  
At the mere mention of having to turn over the Dragon balls Trunks' temper begins to flare. His facial expression intensifies and is filled with more hate.  
  
"You're out of your mind if you think I am going to give you the one thing that can bring my father back to me, and you will pay for that cheap shot of yours. I don't know who the hell you are but you will never get the Dragon Balls. Number one you didn't find them- I did, number two I can smell from here that you are evil to the core. I wouldn't give you the Dragon Balls if you were the last soul in this universe and there was no one around to be tormented by your sick and twisted ways." Trunks fires back at the nameless man.  
  
For a minute Trunks thought he saw the man's grin become a frown but he didn't care. To Trunks this guy had just sealed his own fate the moment he attacked him and got in the way of his wish.  
  
"I see you wish to do this the hard way, well my boy I am in no means at all surprised, you Saiyans have always been rather barbaric and I for one have no problem with going toe to toe with one of you, your all the same. Hot tempered and egotistical lunatics with bad hair . . . now prepare yourself boy, this is going to hurt you more then it will hurt me that my friend is a promise." A sinister laugh follows the Nameless man's boasting and this just pisses Trunks off even more. Pissed frustrated and enraged Trunks rushed his attacker. He would let his fists do the talking now.  
  
Trunks rushed the man with care free abandon, he was a Saiyan after all and no one could beat a Saiyan especially a Super Saiyan. It was not until Trunks' very first attack landed upon the Nameless man's face fully flush that Trunks' reality was shattered. along with his right hand.  
  
The sickening crunchy shatter sent waves of laughter through the Nameless man as cries of pain came from Trunks who was now retreating a few steps back holding his hand in immense pain. "Here boy let me show you how it's done!" The man roared as his Ki was let loose allowing Trunks for the first time feel any noticeable fighting power come from his enemy and it was so huge it was frightening.  
  
Bulma had been making dinner when the explosion rocked Capsule Corp. Worried, she rushed to the back yard door and quickly stepped outside to investigate. What she saw however was something she hadn't expected. There was lots of smoke and dust everywhere, a huge crater in her back yard and a man walking towards her son who was presently in a crumpled heap lying on the ground. She almost screamed out for him but a glint to her right caught her attention. Quickly glancing over she was shocked to see a dragon ball imbedded into the outer wall of her house.  
  
Quickly looking back at Trunks she could see him getting up and the two men conversing off in the distance, but she was only human and couldn't hear anything that was being said. It wasn't until she saw Trunks disappear and reappear in front of the man that she knew there was going to be trouble. The sickening crunch she heard and the howling pain filled cries that followed shook her to her soul. "That's Trunks! He's hurt!" was the only thing that was registering in her motherly mind and before she even knew it she was grabbing the Dragon Ball and rushing back to her house. Her son's cries had turned very pain-filled and Bulma couldn't take any more. Her son was losing and there was not a soul in sight that could help him.  
  
Trunks tried to control his pain but something in the way his hand was just shattered kept him from being able to. It didn't help that this man had only hit him once and he was now spiting up blood. The man's punch had connected with Trunks' stomach before he even had a chance to react. Electing another pain filled wail from the young prince. Without hesitation Trunks had turned Super Saiyan without even thinking of it and began to go on the offensive only to be hit six more times before he could even blink. Desperate, Trunks began to let loose with random un-aimed Ki blasts just so he could maybe get some breathing room and keep his enemy at bay, but as luck would have it Trunks had none and the Nameless man just continued to pound the ever living shit out of him.  
  
As she watched helplessly as her son transformed into Super Saiyan and was still getting pummeled she knew she had to get him some help and fast. Desperately she ran into the house and picked up her phone to dial Gohan's house but as she placed the phone to her ear she realized with shocked horror that the phone was dead. Frustrated and frantic Bulma rushed to her lab with only one thought on her mind.  
  
Once inside her lab Bulma began flipping on computer energy supplies and back ups all over the lab. Jumping in her control seat Bulma let her fingers fly across her keyboard as she began bringing up program after program and file after file. It wasn't until she had everything in place and ready to execute that Bulma hesitated in the slightest, if only for a minute and then she pushed the execution command that would start everything all over again. A password protection box appeared when all data had been downloaded and Bulma hesitantly typed in the password one letter at a time. *RESURECTION* and hit the OK tab with the click of her mouse.  
  
Trunks thought he was finished, he had almost nothing left to give, his energy was all but spent in trying to hurt this man and yet he hadn't laid a finger on him yet! "How can this be? I haven't even touched you!" Trunks screamed in frustration. With a smile the Nameless man stopped his assault of the young boy and answered his question.  
  
"Because you have no skill or discipline Mr. Briefs. I am far stronger then you, plain and simple. Now I sense you have no fight left in you and I will kill you. Do you have any last words?" the Nameless man asked.  
  
It was finished! In record time too. She had to change a few things but they were vital to the expedient process. Quickly she grabbed a towel and a capsule off her desk and ran to a fortified and very secret door in her lab. Once the code was punched in and her retina scan and her fingerprints along with her voice scan were complete the door flew open to reveal a darkened lab section with just one thing within it. A glass cylinder placed in its center and a sleeping figure within.  
  
There was a faint tapping sound coming from somewhere far off yet he could not tell from where. He could feel a presence in front of him very weak and very human. His eyes bolt open as he feels a pair of hands caress his cheeks and is greeted by a pair of deep blue eyes staring directly into his onyx ones. He could tell the person was female and of no threat to him. In fact she was very familiar to him yet he could not place a name to her eyes.  
  
When she spoke her voice was pleasant yet filled with worry and alarm. The emotion within her voice was enough to put him into heightened sense of security. And he began to stand from his kneeling position.  
  
"Vegeta can you hear me?" Asked the woman  
  
"Yes I hear you Onna." He stated saying nothing more.  
  
"Do you know who I am?" she asked of him  
  
"Your name I do not know but I sense I know you." he stated.  
  
A sigh of relief was expelled from her lungs and Bulma looked back up to Vegeta.  
  
"We have a problem Vegeta, Earth is being attacked by an evil man outside this very compound, my son is fighting him right now and losing I need you to help him- can you do that for me?" Bulma asks.  
  
Vegeta thought for a moment, but he couldn't remember a thing. Try as he might he could only remember that he was Vegeta, The Prince of all Saiyans and Earth. He was supposed to protect Earth at all costs.  
  
"Yes Onna I can do that," Vegeta answered and without hesitating he moved past the woman and began to head for the door. When she called out to him he turned around and looked at her. "Yes Onna?"  
  
"Wait you will need these" she said as she popped the Capsule and it released a black fighting suit, white and gold chest armor, boots and a pair of white gloves.  
  
Looking down at his nakedness Vegeta realized that she was right; one can't fight naked now can they? Hurriedly he placed on his cloths and armor and headed out the door towards the two Ki signatures he felt that were closest. He felt other high Ki levels approaching as well but they were of no consequence at the moment. Right now he had to stop that evil man from destroying earth and save the woman's child.  
  
However as soon as Vegeta exited the lab and he saw the destruction around him he could feel his anger rising. He could see the two figures fighting in the distance and began to move towards them, not quit taking his time but sort of investigating if you would at a quickened pace as he rushed towards them.  
  
It wasn't until he saw the boy that Vegeta froze in his tracks as flashes of memories began to flood his mind. The boy in his memories was much younger, at first they were in a room sparring it appeared. They were having a great time the boy had just revealed that he could transform into a Super Saiyan at his young age! The next memory was of him and the boy riding on some metal snake that was confined to a trail of some sort zipping along the trail at high speeds going left, right upside down and through cork screws screaming they're heads off laughing all along the way with their hands into the air as the whooshed down the next hill. The last memory was of him and a baby. He was holding a baby version of the boy in his arms in the darkness of his room late in the night, marveling at his smallness and feeling great pride in the fact that this was his son and he was now a father.  
  
This realization from the last memory sparked Vegeta out of his thought and he heard the Nameless man speak to the boy. "Because you have no skill or discipline Mr. Briefs. I am far stronger then you plain and simple. Now I sense that you have no fight left in you and I will kill you. Do you have any last words?" and Vegeta just stood there shocked as a dazzling red ball of energy formed at the tip of the man's finger and began to grow.  
  
Satisfied with the size of his energy the Nameless man leveled his projectile at his target's forehead and smiles sinisterly. "Have fun in the afterlife Mr. Briefs and don't bother waiting for your mother, because I'm going to have lots of fun with her before she dies. Trust me." His voice was icy and vindictive as he said this.  
  
Trunks just closed his eyes and apologized to his mother for not being able to protect her. Trunks heard the bolt of energy release from his finger like a clap of roaring thunder and then his whole world went black. 


	5. Chapter 5

Well here it is Chapter five also written by Trunks on toast hope you enjoy. Stay tuned for Life after Rebirth coming up next!!!  
  
disclaimer: i own nothing but the nail polish on my toes (it's silver!)  
  
a/n: i do believe this is the first time i've ever gotten writer's block while trying to write an author's note. well, here's the last chapter (done by yours truly. *grins* just like I promised), and here's a warning to you all: the ending is sad. yes, i know, i am a horrible, horrible person. and happy endings are fantastic, but this particular ending was just screaming to be used.  
  
but John wanted to take the fic way farther than i could (you see, starting fics, I can do. but following it through . . . that's another story), and he had this *awesome* idea (lol, as usual), so we decided to make it into a sequel to be posted on his site. Check it out after you finish this one! (pen name: John Perry). yes, we all love him. w00t!  
  
so now, without further ado- i give you the final chapter.  
  
======================================  
Pain.  
  
The first thing to register in his mind was an intense and agonizing pain. Fragments of nonsensical thoughts roamed freely though his muddled head, none of them staying still long enough to be of any use. Trunks struggled to gather his bearings, but failed miserably as his body refused to take orders from his brain. Lying on the ground with his eyes still closed he was near ready to give up and call it a day, when suddenly an explosion sounded nearby, rocking the ground with its severity and snapping Trunks out of his stunned state.  
  
A battle.  
  
That's it, he was fighting a battle. And if the pain was any indication, he wasn't quite dead yet. (As to whether this was a good or a bad thing, his current condition would not allow him to say) The last thing the Briefs boy remembered was closing his eyes and waiting for the ki blast to hit, and then . . . nothing.  
  
No, that wasn't quite right- moments before he blacked out, something had crashed into him from the side. But that made no sense. The man had been right in front of him when he released his attack. Trunks was in no shape to dodge it, and his enemy knew it; there would be no reason to change the direction of the blast at the last minute.  
  
Another thing that didn't seem right was the fact that he felt like a brick wall had collided with his body. It didn't have the searing, electrical force that all ki blasts had, regardless of who or what had launched it.  
  
So what the hell was going on?  
  
Slowly Trunks cracked open his eyes, blinking several times to get rid of the haziness. He could just barely make out two figures in the distance, exchanging blows and ki blasts, one of which nearly missed the prone figure lying on the ground. Quickly he half-rolled, half-stumbled out of the way, somehow ending up more or less on his feet.  
  
The fighter opposite of the nameless man was more than holding his own, and Trunks watched in awe as the two engaged in their deadly dance. Whoever, this mystery person was, they were certainly not human.  
  
He was too far away to see either of them very clearly, but something about the other man seemed very familiar. Even in his severely weakened state, he could still faintly sense ki, and there was definitely something unusual about this mystery fighter's life energy. But at the same time it was comforting, like it had always been there during his battles . . .  
  
His eyes widened. Dirty, cracked, and bleeding lips parted and whispered a single word. "Papa . . ."  
  
The painful hope in his voice made him sound horribly vulnerable, as if he were a little kid again and his father had just promised to take him to the park.  
  
No, it wasn't possible. Vegeta was dead! He had seen him with his own eyes, floating lifeless in his mother's lab. How could . . . how could he be here, fighting that nameless man? How could he have arrived seconds before Trunks was about to be blasted into oblivion, just in time to push him out of the way and save his life? This was all insane.  
  
But it was real, and he wasn't about to argue with that. His father was back.  
  
Overcome with happiness and relief he collapsed to his knees, unable to stand upright under the overwhelming current of emotions running through him.  
  
Meanwhile the two combatants continued their aerial battle, completely oblivious to the teenager below them. Vegeta cursed under his breath as he narrowly escaped another blow, launching a hasty ki blast that was easily deflected. He was in much better shape and much more disciplined than his son, true, but even in his super saiyan form he was having a hard time keeping this man at bay.  
  
His son- since when had he had a son? He had always been Vegeta, prince of all saiyans, and that was it. So where had all these memories come from? This strange feeling of affection that felt to foreign to him? Try as he might he couldn't remember or feel anything else, except to protect the purple-haired boy and his mother.  
  
His mother, that would mean . . . she was his wife? None of this many any sense!  
  
As these confused thoughts jumbled through his head, Vegeta had a hard time of concentrating on the current threat. However, the saiyan prince did notice something- although the man was incredibly powerful, his assaults were wide open. There seemed to be very little defense: just enough to dodge or deflect any attacks. If he could only get him distracted enough to power up his finishing move . . .  
  
He chanced a quick glance down at his son, relieved to see that he was alive. Maybe Trunks could grab the man's attention long enough . . . no, he was already aware of Vegeta's presence. He would immediately sense it was a set-up. On the other hand, perhaps this villain didn't know that his previous opponent was still alive. He had no idea how resilient saiyans were, after all. Carefully aiming, he released a reasonably weak exertion of ki of hoped that Trunks would take the hint.  
  
The man laughed, bringing a lull to their fighting as he drifted a few feet away.  
  
"Is that all you can do, your highness?" he mocked, brushing a few stray strands of hair out of his eyes. "And I expected so much more from royalty. Ah well, like they say . . . like father like son. No wonder that boy was such a weakling. With your pathetic fighting skills, what could one expect?"  
  
Down below Trunks yelped, being knocked to the ground once again. He snapped his head up in the direction of the blast just in time to see his father retract his hand. He could almost hear the annoyed gravelly voice in his head- "What're you doing, brat?? Do you expect me to fight your battle while you sit there like an idiot?! Get up!"  
  
He shook his head. What WAS he doing?! He should be up there, beating that man into a bloody pulp. But the sad reality was that he was too weak to even fly, much less do any beating. Almost absent-mindedly he stuck his fingers into a tear in his pants, when they brushed again something small and hard. Curiously, he pinched it between his thumb and index finger and drew it out, bringing it in front of his face to inspect. It was a sensu bean.  
  
Of course! He had slipped one into his pocket before he had taken off on pursuit of the dragonballs, in case any trouble popped up along the way. Trunks was surprised that he still had enough presence of mind to think ahead, with the nearly comatose condition he had been in.  
  
But this was no time to muse over his good luck. With shaking hands he brought the sensu up to his mouth and slipped it in, ignoring his aching jaws as he slowly chewed and swallowed. Almost immediately he could feel the healing powers of the miracle bean going to work on restoring his health and power. In a minute or so all his wounds were healed, and several minutes more brought back his full power.  
  
Yet strangely enough, through the whole process the nameless man had not once paid any attention to him. Only a fool would turn their back on an opponent unless they were certain he or she was dead, and this man was no fool. He was evil, but not stupid. That could only mean he had underestimated Vegeta's speed, and thought that his blast and hit and killed Trunks.  
  
The young man smirked, his handsome but severe face becoming a mirror or his proud father. This new enemy had underestimated both of them, and that would be his undoing.  
  
"I will not let you down again, father." With that vow he took to the air, where the two men appeared to be . . . talking. Trunks silently came up behind the foe, keeping his ki suppressed so as not to be detected. He maintained a fair amount of distance, but got close enough to hear what they were saying.  
  
". . . do a little research on all the planets I plan to conquer. Earth was an intriguing one, I must admit . . . inhabited by weaklings, but protected by saiyans. So I looked up some of your planet's history, but right after I got past the bad haircuts, I found out something very . . . well, unexpected." A smirk.  
  
"Fool," Vegeta spat out, irritated at the ambiguous statement. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I think you know perfectly well. Your *mate* really was a genius." Disconcerting eyes briefly sweeped over the prince before returning to the shorter man's angry glare.  
  
"Excellent craftsmanship."  
  
Trunks' brow wrinkled in confusion- what in the name of everything holy was that man talking about?! But he pushed all questions out of his mind, chalking it all up to the fact that the man must be insane, and slowly began powering up his attack.  
  
"I don't know what nonsense this is, and I don't care," came the scornful reply, as Vegeta crossed his arms in his classic stance. "You have been foolish . . . spending all this time talking when you could have attacked. You will not get that chance again."  
  
Trunks was hesitant of powering up all the way lest he be detected, but by now he was pretty sure that this nameless man, though more powerful than him, did not possess his ability to sense ki. With that reassurance, he drifted a little farther away and let the sparks begin to fly.  
  
Laughter rang out across the devastated land, but it was utterly devoid of any humor.  
  
"You had the same chance that I did, and I see you've made the same mistake. So tell me, Vegeta . . . why are we still talking? Why don't you just kill me?"  
  
Sliding his hands in feet into position, the still un-detected boy got ready to launch his attack. But he knew it was not time yet . . . just a little bit longer . . .  
  
"It is not my honor to do so- this is my son's battle, not mine." Then a smug expression slid over his face as he glanced past the body in front of him, and fathomless black eyes met startlingly blue ones. It may have not even lasted for half a second, but it was enough.  
  
"Your son is . . ." Before he could finish, a deafening shout and brilliant white light hit him, surrounding him in a ball of agonizing pain.  
  
"FINAL FLASH!"  
  
Vegeta quickly dropped down to avoid the blast, and watched as Trunks launched his finishing attack. He vaguely wondered why he had chosen that one instead of his own finish buster or burning attack, but realized there was a certain pride to watching his only son defeat an opponent using his, Vegeta's, patented attack. Smirking deeply, he walked over to where the body had fallen, almost bunt to a crisp.  
  
Pain.  
  
But this time it was the nameless man who lay on the ground. White boots coated in grime and blood approached him, taking their time as they walked right up to the prone figure. One lifted and came to rest on his battered chest, pushing down until there was a snapping sound.  
  
The man cried out, coughing up blood as he did so. Another snap, and another, before finally . . .  
  
"Stop."  
  
The voice was so weak that Vegeta probably would not have heard it, had it not been for his acute hearing. He lifted his foot off and kneeled down, facing the dying man.  
  
"You made a big mistake coming here . . . and an even bigger mistake attacking Trunks."  
  
Confusion crossed the nameless man's face and he attempted to talk, having to spit out some more blood and several teeth before he could do so.  
  
"I don't understand . . ." he said faintly. "You're not real. How can you feel so strongly for that boy?"  
  
All the memories he had been assaulted with earlier were faded now, and he could barely recall most of them. However, the image of the tiny baby nestled in his arms still stuck out in his mind, and with it the feeling of protectiveness- and had his pride not been so all encompassing, he would have realized- love.  
  
"Brainless fool," he snarled, reaching down to grab the man's head with his gloved hands. "You have tried to kill my son. And for that, I will kill you." With a quick jerking motion and a loud crack, the man's mouth went slack and his eyes glazed over. Nameless and lifeless. But that was what he got for messing with Trunks Briefs.  
  
For awhile Vegeta stared at the limp body, a wave of confusion crashing over him as he let go of the head watched it thud on the ground. Suddenly everything seemed hazy- he couldn't remember why he was out here. Or why he had killed that man.  
  
It was strange. He remembered the feeling of rage that had sparked in him when he began fighting, and the feeling of intense pride and . . . something else, as he watched the man fall from the sky. But the moment the saiyan prince had snapped his neck, it felt like everything had simply got up and left, leaving only faint trails in their wake.  
  
"Papa!"  
  
Vegeta turned his head toward the sound, not responding to it as much as seeing who else was there. That purple-haired boy was running toward him, seeming almost delirious with joy and relief. The boy! That was who he was fighting for . . .but . . .  
  
He was nearly toppled over as Trunks fell to the ground and threw his arms around him in a fierce embrace, tears rapidly trailing down his cheeks as he buried his face in his father's shoulder.  
  
"Oh god . . . Papa . . . I thought I'd n-never see you again . . . when he attacked, and caught me off guard . . . I know I should've trained, but it was so hard without . . . without you there to train me, and I . . . I wasn't any match for him, and I thought I was going to die as a disappointment to you and mom, but then you showed up . . . you saved me, like you always do . . . please, don't leave . . . don't ever leave again, please . . . Papa, stay . . . I'll train and become stronger and make you proud of me, just don't leave again . . .please . . ."  
  
Vegeta's face remained stoic. Who was this boy? Whatever memories he may have had of the sobbing youth, they were completely gone now. Even the traces had vanished.  
  
"Papa . . .?"  
  
Hesitantly Trunks lifted his head to look at his father, concerned about his silence. The shorter man had never been one to easily show his emotions, but this was strange even for him.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
The blue-haired woman! Vegeta remembered now- the blue haired woman had asked him to help her son fight the threat to earth. *That* was who the boy was. Looking down at the still body he saw that he had completed his task, and abruptly stood up. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, exactly, but that woman just might . . . His ki abruptly flared and he was about to take to the sky, when he felt a hand grab his arm.  
  
"Where . . . where are you going? Papa, what's going on?"  
  
Now Trunks knew that something was wrong. Why wouldn't his father talk to him? Or even look at him? How could he just up and leave, after all that had happened?  
  
"Why won't you say anything?" he demanded frantically, gripping his arm harder out of sheer panic. "Papa, look at me! PLEASE!"  
  
Obligingly Vegeta turned his head, until he was fully facing the boy latched onto his arm. He was freed at Trunks inhaled sharply, his hand going limp and falling to his side.  
  
There was nothing.  
  
His father was staring straight at him and acknowledging his presence, yet there was no sign of love, pride, or even recognition on his face. It was as if he were regarding a complete stranger.  
  
"papa . . .?"  
  
Vegeta simply turned away and leapt into the sky.  
Fin. 


End file.
